Re: Very interesting article

[Reuben Radding <rrad...>]

Eve posts for me. I see a lot of posters to this list identify a lot of
musics as "not very Jewish" or some such, and very often I find myself
wondering how they define the Jewishness of the music they hear. By what
yardstick do we measure Jewishness in aesthetics? As a musician myself, I
basically feel I have the right to call it as I see it where my own music's
concerned. When I toured as Marc Ribot's bassist a few years ago, I found
that to many europeans, simply the fact that Marc was a Jew made his music
Jewish. To many others, this was not enough to warrant the label. There are
many authentic Jewish experiences in this modern age, and all of them are
valid to me. I grew up in the suburbs of the South and had one kind of
experience, culturally. Others had their own experience. My aesthetics, of
course, also grew out of my environment. I was just as exposed to funk and
rock as I was to classical, and Eastern European folk music. In fact, if
anything, my aesthetic was formed MORE by the seemingly non-Jewish musics,
and it influences my interpretation of klezmer and gypsy tunes whether I'm
aware of it or not.

Oh wait, no one asked me. Sorry. Anyway, I just wanted to add my 2 cents
from the sidelines.

-----Original Message-----
From: SICULAR (at) aol(dot)com <SICULAR (at) aol(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Friday, April 16, 1999 10:04 PM
Subject: Re: Very interesting article


>I look forward to reading the article.  With all due repect to Debbie, and
>the many people for whom her compositions mean so much, I find myself quite
>alienated from most of the tunes of hers I've heard in services.  They just
>don't appeal to me and it's very important to my spirituality to feel
>connected to what sounds I hear.  To paraphrase Marc Ribot, I'd prefer to
not
>to have to choose between my identities as a musician and as a Jew by being
>asked to leave my aesthetics at the door.  This has nothing to do with
Debbie
>Friedman's sincerity, which certainly affects many listeners deeply.  And I
>don't pretend to have surveyed her work; it's just so pervasive that I am
>aware of many of those songs out there.
>
>I am not inviting any debate with my personal opinion, nor volunteering any
>program ideas.  Simply want to express something which has often caused me
>discomfort.  Obviously there are lots and lots of people who feel very
>differently.
>
>Eve Sicular
>
>


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